Facebook is a social network. On occasion, with a warrant approved by an independent Judiciary, an agency may request on a case by case basis, information relating to a specific concern for which there are specific indications warranting a search - much like the search of your car or home.
WeChat is a control, censorship and surveillance network.
- WeChat, like >90% of Chinese companies, has CCP party apparatus that work within the company who overview protocol to ensure loyalty to the CCP agenda. The US 'equivalent' would be the CIA having staff at Facebook to intercede in policy decisions and to make sure 'The Man in the White House' has his policy objectives met.
- WeChat censors everything. If you, right now, start saying something negative about Xi, it will likely get censored by one of the massive army of censors. The US equivalent would be 100% of Facebook posts going through a 'large office in Virginia' where President's political operatives oversee censorship.
- WeChat censors anything they want, for whatever reason. Winnie the Pooh comparisons to Xi? Banned. References to Tiannamen or Hong Kong protest? Banned. The US equivalent would be Facebook banning all memes mocking Trump, and of course, banning any and all activity related to BLM, social justice, protests, any kind of history that contradicts the ruling American party's official view of the world.
- WeChat is used used to identify networks of civil antagonists. Have you said something about 'Hong Kong'? Well, you're friends are going to be tagged and more likely monitored. The US equivalent would be government operatives sifting through the Facebook DB all day, using that information to monitor your friends messages, because you said 'Black Lives Matter'.
- WeChat is used for a host of other things including payment etc. meaning the breach of privacy is considerably more significant. Everything you buy, everywhere you travel etc. tracked and monitored at all times.
> The US 'equivalent' would be the CIA having staff at Facebook to intercede in policy decisions and to make sure 'The Man in the White House' has his policy objectives met.
1. You think that US intelligence agencies don't have any staff inside Facebook?
2. I mean, Joel Kaplan is right there. Not even a secret.
The US (and surely Russia, China) all have clandestine operations within Facebook. This is not part of a 'deal' with Facebook, it's regular spy-craft.
But Facebook does not drive it's policy around the wishes clandestine operatives within the company!
The US and Russia surely have clandestine operatives within Tencent as well.
But the CCP has something entirely different: legit, out in the open entities there to oversee and ensure CCP party policy and Xi's orders are effectively executed. If the Executive team at Tencent didn't 'get with the program' they would be forced out. While they don't probably care about regular operating matters, they do in fact 'hold the real power'. For example, if Tencent decided to not censor certain subjects, action would be very quickly taken.
Not only does the CCP have minders in Tencent/WeChat - they have them in almost every Chinese company [1]. These 'inner minders' are literally the direct apparatus of state control within the ostensibly private economy.
When we talk about 'state control of the economy' - this is literally it.
The US corollary would be Government officials in every single US private company, overseeing that everyone adheres to GOP policy for example. So not just Facebook, but Cisco, Disney, GM, Mattel, CNN, Morgan Stanley, B of A, Goldman - etc. - many of which would also be directly owned by the US government, as of course in China most major banks are nationalized. If the CEO of Goldman doesn't do what Mr. White House and 'The Party' want him to do - he'd be 'out' and someone more 'pragmatic' about their capitalism (i.e. make money but bend the knee where they have to) would be 'in'.
From TheGuardian [2]: "(in Xinjiang) there are QR codes on people’s doors for when the party goes in to check on who is in. If someone leaves through the back door instead of the front door, that can be considered suspicious behaviour." - one of many chilling examples of control that is enabled by private companies, controlled 'from the inside' by CCP staff.
? They are quite different.
Facebook is a social network. On occasion, with a warrant approved by an independent Judiciary, an agency may request on a case by case basis, information relating to a specific concern for which there are specific indications warranting a search - much like the search of your car or home.
WeChat is a control, censorship and surveillance network.
- WeChat, like >90% of Chinese companies, has CCP party apparatus that work within the company who overview protocol to ensure loyalty to the CCP agenda. The US 'equivalent' would be the CIA having staff at Facebook to intercede in policy decisions and to make sure 'The Man in the White House' has his policy objectives met.
- WeChat censors everything. If you, right now, start saying something negative about Xi, it will likely get censored by one of the massive army of censors. The US equivalent would be 100% of Facebook posts going through a 'large office in Virginia' where President's political operatives oversee censorship.
- WeChat censors anything they want, for whatever reason. Winnie the Pooh comparisons to Xi? Banned. References to Tiannamen or Hong Kong protest? Banned. The US equivalent would be Facebook banning all memes mocking Trump, and of course, banning any and all activity related to BLM, social justice, protests, any kind of history that contradicts the ruling American party's official view of the world.
- WeChat is used used to identify networks of civil antagonists. Have you said something about 'Hong Kong'? Well, you're friends are going to be tagged and more likely monitored. The US equivalent would be government operatives sifting through the Facebook DB all day, using that information to monitor your friends messages, because you said 'Black Lives Matter'.
- WeChat is used for a host of other things including payment etc. meaning the breach of privacy is considerably more significant. Everything you buy, everywhere you travel etc. tracked and monitored at all times.
[1] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2016/10/which-me...